Blessing
by robert3A-SN
Summary: For Ben, meeting with his girlfriend's mother is quite daunting- especially when it's his secret girlfriend's mother, a Pawnee legend, and the last, best hope he has to fight the policy that's keeping his new relationship a secret.


**Warning: This story is taken mainly from a plot point teased for May 19'th first episode, and a bit from May 12's second episode.**

By now, Ben Wyatt was an expert in dampening what should be the greatest moments of his life. Of course, the greatest moment of his adult life hadn't actually been ruined yet, unlike the best moment of his young life. But just because he hadn't created another Ice Town disaster so far didn't mean he wouldn't, especially since it would hurt so much worse if he did.

Even Ben was a bit confused on how he was making this moment look bad, however. He had been waiting for this particular milestone for weeks, if not months or even a year. The fact that he finally got to kiss Leslie Knope in Indianapolis, and that Leslie Knope kissed him back, and that beautiful, brainy, brilliant Leslie Knope actually liked him in the same way he liked her….even 10 terms as mayor wouldn't have topped that.

But after he got back home, and actually had to part with Leslie, he did what he always tended to do. Overthink something wonderful and convince himself it would get screwed up. That's what tended to happen when Leslie wasn't around, which made it all the more terrible that certain….factors wouldn't let them be together all the time, even now. That in turn made him more afraid about disaster, and the vicious circle went on from there.

In all the times he imagined going further with Leslie, he knew they'd still have to keep it secret for a while afterwards. Yet he thought he could still handle it, if he finally had the chance to at least be with her for a little bit. But of course, when they actually stopped dancing around everything and came together, he had to see that even that wouldn't be enough. As awful as it was to not be that close to her for so long, it might be even worse to have a taste of that life, and not be able to return to it for more than a few fleeting moments every day.

Because he was still Ben Wyatt, he just couldn't win either way. And now that his anxiousness to be close to her was 100 times worse, now that he knew what it was like, he would probably give them away before Leslie's lack of sneakiness did. And for that addiction, he would ruin her life and all her dreams, with an assist from Chris after he fired the both of them.

He just wasn't capable of finding a way around that anymore, if he ever was. And if he couldn't, then there was probably no way that Leslie would be. They were both too close to the whole thing, and they certainly couldn't find an outsiders perspective to give them a way out. At least no one that could actually do anything helpful.

Andy, April and Tom weren't the most….fitting people to trust with this kind of thing, and Chris probably wouldn't listen to Ann after he dumped her twice. Ron fought for Leslie's job before, as Ben well knew, but this would need more effort than he was probably capable of. No one else from work had the power to change Chris's mind, and they didn't have powerful enough connections with anyone else in town, or in their….

In their families…

Maybe it was fueled by all the love, anger and other rollercoaster emotions Ben was on, or from his ever growing irrational side. But since he had just hit on what may be the last, best, and only way to fix this once and for all, he didn't care. All he cared about was finding a phone number, and getting through to the person he needed to call.

After several minutes of searching and calling- in between making sure that Andy and April were too vegged out on the couch to notice him- he got that person on the phone.

"Hello, is this Marlene Knope?" Ben waited for about the sixth longest second of his life, until he heard an uncertain female voice reply "Speaking."

"Yes, hello!" Ben remarked a bit too forcefully. "My name is Ben Wyatt, I'm the assistant city manager at City Hall."

"Yes, I know who you are." Of course. This desperate plan would already be ruined before it started, if Leslie already told her enough dirt about them, and was just waiting for the chance not to approve. "You do?"

"Well, you shut down the government I work in and helped my daughter run the Harvest Festival, how wouldn't I know?" Ben was too relieved to remember to answer her rhetorical question, so she went on. "But why are you calling me now? Is this about Leslie?"

"It is, in a way. It's nothing bad, or at least I hope you don't think so. But I'd feel more comfortable explaining in person." Terrific, only a minute in and already Ben was lying to his secret girlfriend's mother. Yet if this was going to work, she needed to be won over in person. "Would you mind coming to my office at about 10 tomorrow? And if you could….please don't let anyone know you're seeing me, especially Leslie or the city manager."

"I suppose I can do that…."

"Terrific, until then, then!"

Okay, now that had to be the last time that Ben did something right, only to make it awkward at the end. He already knew he wouldn't get any sleep, in preparing for the biggest meeting of his life, but the need to more thoroughly rehearse what he needed to say clinched it.

Despite rehearsing his talking points endlessly over night, and in what little sleep he could get, Ben still didn't know what to expect from himself the next morning. Somehow, he convinced Leslie that his workload was too big for him to drop by until lunch, and that it would help with appearances anyway. He left without fantasizing too much about her giving him a big kiss for luck, so that had to be promising.

So all Ben could do was literally twiddle his thumbs in his office until 10 a.m. Fortunately, Chris was too wrapped up in his cartwheel practices to drop by, which is why he chose 10 a.m. for this meeting- but they'd certainly need to finish by about 10:20. Hopefully, Ben would still have the energy, or the desire, to move by then.

Yet he still had enough left to literally jump to his feet, when he heard a knock on his door.

With that, Ben slipped back into serious, Leslie-free mode, or whatever was left of that character. He took perhaps the last deep breath he'd be able to take for the next several minutes, and opened the door to see Marlene Knope waiting.

Normally, when a Knope was in the office, there'd be a series of one-liners, nicknames, and nerd references before she sat down, if she ever did. But with this original Knope, Ben brought himself to just shake her hand, and wait for her to sit down before he got back to his desk.

"So, what's this important, not-bad news about Leslie that couldn't be said over the phone?" Marlene asked, straight to the point. Ben suppressed how familiar that directness sounded, before starting off with his first rehearsed speech.

"As you may be aware, the new city manager has put in new rules since he took over. One of them was a policy against inter-office dating, since he believes it would compromise the government's integrity."

"That makes sense, but what does that have to do with Leslie?" That was about the worst reaction Ben could have imagined- in spite of his rather vivid imagination. But he still had to stick to the script, nonetheless. "Well….there's reason to believe that she has….a desire to go around that policy."

"What? God, I should have known….just tell me it's not with that nutcase that shines everyone's shoes! Or is it with Swanson? I knew he was too extreme on the other side for Leslie not to feel something!" For once, Ben didn't want to hear a Knope ramble on and jump to wild conclusions, especially if they were that unsettling.

"No, I know for a fact that it isn't Ron. In fact, I know that it isn't anyone who works in the parks department."

"Well then, who is it?"

Ben had gone over several versions on how to break the news. But unfortunately, the one he ended up using, in spite of himself, was a small, barely audible "Me." Yet it wasn't quite quiet enough to escape Marlene's ears. Still, her mouth wasn't moving or yelling yet, so that had to count for something, although he figured he should keep going while he had the chance.

"I want you to know that nothing tawdry has happened, we've both made extra sure of that." Deciding that this wasn't the right time to mention all the making out in Indy, Ben told his second, and hopefully last, white lie to Marlene. "We haven't even kissed yet, since it's too risky to do that or anything else. And…that's really why I called you here."

This was the longest silence he'd ever seen from someone in the Knope family. So Ben decided this was his best chance to cut to the chase. "If our….potential relationship was discovered in this political climate, my boss would likely suspend Leslie, or worse. Even if she wasn't fired, it would cause a scandal that would hurt her other aspirations, especially with her new high profile after the Harvest Festival. But if my boss's rule was changed or dropped somehow, it might be okay for a more…public revelation."

"You're Leslie's mother, a powerful woman in your own right, and a lot of influential people must owe you a lot of favors. So I wondered if you knew the right kind of people that could convince my boss to….adapt a new policy. With your experience, you'd surely find a way to do it so it couldn't get traced back to you, or myself or your daughter. If you could do that, it would make her life a lot easier, and make sure that this….connection doesn't wind up hurting her."

A few words were changed around here and there, but Ben thought it came off just as he planned it. Now he waited to see if Marlene's review would go as planned, or as hoped and prayed.

"So….either I get your boss to let you date, or you'll make this affair public and ruin her career?" So much for the power of prayer.

"No, that isn't it at all, I don't want to hurt her!"

"Then why are you putting her in this kind of jeopardy? Hell, even if it wasn't against policy, it wouldn't look too promising. Especially with your history."

Oh God, here came the confused stutters- and Ben thought he could hold off on them for at least a few extra minutes.

"Oh come on, you were shutting down our government, I had to do my research. I knew all about Ice Town and your impeachment back home well before the Douche broke the story. I only kept quiet because you were working closely with my daughter. Of course if I'd known it was that close…."

"Again….Ms. Knope, we haven't done anything…."

"But if this policy wasn't in place, you would have, right?" There was pretty much no good way for Ben to answer that, although the lack of an answer probably would be worse. But she fortunately went on before he had an answer- or at least it seemed fortunate. "Is that why you didn't fire her during the summer?"

"I didn't fire her because I- we, needed her to help fix the budget, so that she and everyone else could go back to work. And she did. We also needed her for the Harvest Festival to get the town's income back on track, and she did that too." By this point, Ben realized that if he was gonna go off on one of his Leslie-tangents, it might as well be now.

"She's done everything for this town, and for me, and that's why I don't want her ruined because of me, and that's why I love her."

Well, that was only the second Leslie-tangent that ended like that, at least out loud and in front of someone. Naturally, they'd both happened in the last few days, and in front of a Knope.

"You what? You….you're not serious, are you?" Of course the first Knope didn't answer him like that, thank God. But this kind of answer didn't sound that much better to Ben.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Ben replied with a bit more force than he intended to, and a bit more than he thought he was capable of at the moment.

"Many reasons….particularly because it takes someone rare to appreciate Leslie's….unique view of things. It's certainly hard for anyone to appreciate in government, for all of her efforts. Every man here knows that those….quirks don't mix well with this kind of work, let alone in love. You certainly know that even more than I do."

"I did until I met her."

"Leaving that aside, how do I know you aren't using that to get back on top yourself? The Harvest Festival certainly looked better in headlines than 'Boy Mayor Bankrupts Town' You've got yourself a foot back in the door thanks to my daughter, so maybe a few more will make your comeback into office sound more plausible. Then you won't need her credibility to restore your own anymore."

Now it was really becoming clear to Ben that this wasn't working. Therefore, he had less reason to control himself over the mere notion that he would use Leslie that way.

"My credibility? I gave up hoping about that after the 10'th town I was run out of. You know…let me…if I could, I'd go into Chris's office, confess everything, get fired, and let myself get railroaded on every newscast imaginable, if it meant Leslie wouldn't get in trouble! In fact, there's only two reasons I'm not doing it right now….because there's no way to do it without Leslie getting hurt, and because she would never let me destroy my career like that. Her career means everything to her, and yet she still cares more about me losing my own….you have to know how big that is for her!"

It was now officially going down in flames time. But so far, this was the best method of doing so that Ben had ever come up with. Suddenly, many of the things he forgot to tell Leslie on the road- in between all the other things he was confessing- were being remembered.

"I don't know if you two have a good enough relationship for you to risk everything for her, and that's not my business. You've known her all her life, and I've just known for her a year, but that's long enough for me to know that she saved my life, saved this town, and saved a bunch of other things I thought I'd never get back. And as long as this policy's still around, it'll kill me that I can't show her how much I appreciate that every day…not in the way she deserves. Not in the way that someone who loves her should."

"And if that drives me nuts enough to make me give away….this thing to someone who wouldn't appreciate it, and would hurt her for it…..a million working Ice Towns wouldn't be worth it. Hell, even a billion wouldn't do it, either!"

There was certainly no way for Marlene to follow that right away- even if Ben wasn't too busy trying to catch his breath. This was supposed to be a serious budget consultant turned assistant city manager, and yet all this was making him get hyper, and ramble on, and even make off kilter remarks at the end like….

Like Leslie.

Every mother probably says that their son or daughter is unique, but Marlene always knew that it was particularly accurate with her daughter. That had its good and bad points, so she also always knew that it would be hard for anyone else to see both sides, and wind up fully appreciating the whole. If it was hard for her at times, God knew it would be quite a chore for everyone else, even in a town like Pawnee. For the vast majority of her life, circumstances proved Marlene right on that end.

No girls would ever be on Leslie's wavelength, and Marlene figured it would be just a matter of time before Lindsay got too ambitious to leave it. And as she told Ben, no man, especially a government man, would have the right amount of patience for it. She tried to tell Leslie over and over- or at least hint at it while she could get a word in- that Mark wouldn't be that man, yet she kept going until a nurse finally took him off the market.

Now this guy was gonna be the one to prove all that history wrong? She highly doubted it….even if none of them spoke that way about her before…..or looked less like they were acting before….or sounded just the tiniest bit convincing when they said they'd give up everything for her before….or if this was the first man to even offer that, period.

He did sound professional before he went all goofy today, though, and she remembered how he managed to sound like an actual human being at the end of all those interviews….most likely due to Leslie. Maybe someone could be all idealistic and sappy, and still have enough competence to balance it out. In fact, Leslie had admittedly been a bit more adept lately, at saving the budget and the Parks department and the Harvest Festival, and even making Eagleton's fence into something worthwhile.

She didn't appear capable of doing all that, and succeeding at it, a year ago. And now she was actually getting a name for herself for her feats…most of which she did after this guy started helping her….

"Does she love you?" Marlene finally asked when her mind settled down, and when Ben finally looked calm enough to have a civilized conversation.

"She…..she just told me so recently."

"If you actually went on a real first date, could you put up with events like her sleeve catching on fire, her accidentally taking Ambien, and her drinking vinegar? Because as crazy as that all is, she will find a way to top that."

"What? I mean…..I mean she hinted at that stuff, but…." Ben actually laughed, but Marlene studied closely to see that it wasn't a mean spirited, mocking laugh. It actually almost seemed to be in wonder.

"If she goes on and on about being president, will you be able to resist calling her crazy, either out loud or in your head?"

"I'll have you know that I just talked her into naming Nancy Pelosi as her chief of staff, and not as the secretary of defense," Ben ran off, now starting to feel a little more confident in his answers, and in the direction of Marlene's questions.

He felt a little bit nervous again when Marlene didn't answer that last remark right away. In fact, she almost looked a bit….stunned. Was that good or bad?

He got his answer when Marlene sat back down and started to change the subject.

"There are a few people who aren't fond of this Traeger guy's….way of doing things. They haven't said anything about this issue, but they could be convinced that this would set the stage for other challenges. Of course, I couldn't say why this should be taken on first, so I'll need some time to think up a good excuse. I trust that you and Leslie won't do anything to….make me need to work faster in the meantime."

Ben barely trusted himself not to jump up and down at the moment, if he really was hearing this right. But since it seemed that he was, he forced himself not to ruin it now, and it worked for once. "That shouldn't be a problem now."

"You were right in needing secrecy. If I'm found to have a role in this, even if it goes well, it'll suggest some rather unseemly favoritism. So you can be sure that anyone else who gets involved won't be traced back to me, or you two. In fact, I'll need to go now before my people get suspicious, and before your boss gets his ridiculous exercise routine done."

"Yes….yes, ridiculous, of course…" Ben knew he was losing his professionalism again, but it didn't seem quite as important now.

"You won't need to contact me again. If things work out, you'll know without needing to call me. But if things don't work out….beforehand or afterwards….there will be some choice words from me, in a manner of speaking."

"I….I can assure you that no manner will be needed at all."

"Then I think we're done here." Marlene got up and offered her hand, so Ben took it carefully. "I know this is about a year late, but welcome to City Hall, Benjamin. I….get the sense you may just appreciate what a position you're in."

Ben smiled, finally feeling like they were on the same page. That may take a while with Knopes, but the payoff really is more incredible than one can imaginable. No matter how much imagination one has.

It was quite something to know that twice in just a few days…and to feel more confident that he would reap the benefits for much longer than that.

As he thought that over, Marlene got as far as 10 steps out of the office, before she found herself at eye level with Leslie.

"Mom? What are you doing here? How come you didn't call me, and…" It was at that point that Leslie put together how closer her mother was to….certain parts of the building. "Where were you just coming out of?"

"I was just giving my blessing for a big new personal project, dear. I'm sorry I have to go, but I'm running a bit late to get started."

With that, Marlene walked away from Leslie a bit quicker than usual, but in a different manner than usual. Leslie tried to look back at her as she walked closer to Ben's office, then turned forward to look through and see the even more puzzling sight of Ben jumping around, oblivious to anyone who might be looking.

Not for the first time in the last few days, Leslie was left speechless when it came to Ben. But unlike the last time, this was more confusing to her than heartwarming.


End file.
